Artspeak is pleased to inaugurate a new writing residency program beginning with Vancouver writer Lisa Marshall. The residency is both an opportunity to foster local writing practices and a chance to reflect on Artspeak’s activities. Encouraging unique strategies on writing, the program assists Artspeak in our efforts to create meaningful opportunities for discussion, research, and collaboration. Marshall will be in residence for a seven-month term from April-October 2012, building upon her skills in critical art writing, editing, and publishing while furthering her growth in contemporary writing practice.

Project Description: Textuality

One of Michael Fried’s main concerns about Minimal art in 1967 was that it “can be formulated in words.” Shortly after, Seth Siegelaub pointed to a condition that was already in play: we most often encounter art through textual representation as description or as idea. Conceptual practices turned to language as a primary form, thus rendering the object in the gallery secondary. In response to this pivotal point, Textuality is a research and writing project investigating the longstanding relationship between art and text with its roots in the textual turn of the late 1960s. Questions related to these conditions will be considered with a particular focus on Vancouver. What have been the repressed conditions of art’s relationship with text? How has text been incorporated into the field of art and to what effect? What is the core area of expertise for writing about art now? These questions and others will be explored through interviews, analysis of texts, and consideration of artists’ projects.